Wire belt and process for making same



H. LINDSAY WIRE BELT AND PROCESS FOR MAKING SAME File'd Dec. 23, 1921 2 Sheets-Shet 1 June '1' 192s. 1,587,338

H. LINDSAY WIRE BELT AND PROCESS FOR MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 23, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June-1, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

HAMILTON LINDSAY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

ASSIGNOR TO THE LINDSAY WIRE WEAV- IN'G COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

WIRE BELT AND PROCESS FOR MAKHVG SAME.

Application filed December 23, 1921. Serial 1&0. 524,554.

Woven wire belts, in Fourdrinier ma-' chines, carry the pulp before it has been sufliciently solidified to be carried by fabric belts and travel over suction boxes which draw the water down through the interstices of the belt. In order that the suction may be at all etlicient, the belt must travel in contact with the top of the suction box and the result is that the warp wires wear grooves in the upper surface of the suction box. These grooves leave sharp ridges between them and these ridges frequently tear and injure the belt. While the lay wires are sometimes torn, the difiiculty is particularly pronounced with the lacing which connects the ends of the belt, as such lacing, passing diagonally back and forth and overlying both the warp and lay wires, necessarily encounters these ridges. The above mentioned difiiculty is so serious, that in many cases, mechanism has been employed to oscillatethe suction boxes so that the warp wires will wear them down evenly at the top instead of grooving them. This'system, however, increases the expense and is not altogether satisfactory in accomplishing the desired result. 7 I propose to obviate the difliculty described by weaving a belt in which the warp wires do not run absolutely parallel with the length of the belt, but, on the contrary, are at a very acute angle thereto, first in one direction and then in the other. The amount of divergence of the warp wires is in reality very slight; being simply a distance corresponding to two or three wires in the weave for a length of many feet. Such divergence, however. prevents the formation of the troublesome grooves because the region worn by any wire shifts slightly back and forth on the top of the suction box so that the whole top is worn down evenly.

In the weaving of my new belt, the slight divergence COIItIJIIIQS ID one direction as stated for a number of then the divergence is back to the starting point and then in the same direction as at fir nd Q on, so that the salient points at running feet and the edge are all in the same straight line. T us the belt as a whole is true and travels in. the usual manner over the rollers in the F ourdrinier machine and at the same time accomplishes the desired result of evenly wearing the suction boxes.

My invention comprehends not only such a belt as described, but the method of weaving its fabric which includes the longitudinalshifting of the cloth beam first in one direction and later in the reverse direction. This shifting takes place periodically and may be readily accomplished either manually or mechanically. Following each shifting, the woven fabric as it winds onto the cloth beam gradually assumes a true position; after which the cloth beam is shifted in the opposite direction.

This invention is hereinafter more fully explained in connection with the drawings, and the essential characteristics are summarized in the claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a front view illustrative of a loom for weaving the fabric of my belt; Fig. 3 is a plan of a strip of such fabric, the divergence at the edges being much exaggerated for clearness of illustration; Fig. l is an exaggerated plan of a portion of such fabric; Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are views, also exaggerated, illustrating the direction of the warp wires in ditfenent regions of the belt; Fig. 8 is a plan on an enlarged scale of the laced end-portions of the belt; Fig. 9 is an edge view thereof 7 In Figs. 1 and 2, 1 indicates the usual warp beam; 2 a cloth guide-roller; 3 the cloth .beam, and 4 the batten of the loom. The warp wires A, originally mounted in circumferential grooves in the warp beam, receive the shoot wires by means of a shuttle traveling alo the batten in the usual manner; thus pro ucing the fabric A which extends over the guide roll 2 and is wound,

onto the receiving roll or cloth beam 3.

The usual mechanism may be employed for gradually rotating the cloth beam to take up the woven fabric, but such mechanism is omitted in the draw' for clearness of illustration. I have s own, however, in Fi 2, a mechanism which may be employed or shifting the cloth beam axially. This is shown as compris' a screw 5 threaded in a bracket 6 and a,

swivel connection 7 at its inner end with the cloth beam axle and having at its outer end a hand wheel 8 by which it may be turned. This particular mechanism however, is simply illustrative of any convenient means (operated manually or mechanically) for shifting the cloth beam.

In weaving of my fabric, after it has started on the cloth beam, the beam is shifted axially in one direction or the other, a distance corresponding approximately to two or three times the distance from one warp wire to the next. This causes the warp wires from the batten to the cloth beam to lie slightly askew. The angular divergence however, is very slight, owing to the distance between the cloth beam and the batten.

As the weaving progresses, the fabric is gradually wound onto the cloth beam, it automatically travels in the direction from which the cloth beam has been shifted; that is to say, it tends to true itself and in the course of a number of feet of wound fabric, corresponding for instance to two or three rotations of the cloth'beam, it becomes true. Then the cloth beam is shifted by means of the hand wheel or equivalent mechanism a corresponding distance in the opposite direction and is left in that position until the fabric gradually traveling in the other direction as it winds up, trues itself. The true edges which the fabric tends to reach are indicated by two lines XX in Fig. 2, and it will be seen in this figure that the cloth beam has been shifted toward the right of these lines.

Fig. 3 indicates in a much exaggerated form, such fabric as produced by the loom when manipulated in the described manner. Assuming that this fabric was produced by movement in the direction of the arrow, then the cloth beam was at its extreme left position at the points indicated by the lines LL and at its right hand position in the regions indicated by the lines RR.

In Fig. 4, I have shown on a scale larger than Fig. 3, a portion of the fabric and have indicated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the direction of the warp wires A for various regions of the fabric shown approximately at A A, and A respectively on Fig, 4. The lay or shoot wires A in all regions of the belt are at right angles to the edge lines in which the salient points at the edge of the fabric line; such edge lines being shown'at E in Figs. 3 and 4. As these two edge lines are parallel and at right angles to the rollers over which the belt travels in the Fourdrinier machine, the belt runs perfectly true notwithstanding the divergence of the warp wires.

In Figs. 8 and 9 1 have indicated, at B, some of the lacing for the meeting ends of the belt. This lacing passes diagonally across both the lay wires and the warp wires and thus overlies them both. It is preferably a finer wire than the wire of the fabric and after being laced the seam is smoothed down as much as possible, but the fact is inevitable that as the belt travels, the lacing wires will travel across and in close contact with any ridges in the edge of the suction boxes, and are therefore particularly susceptible to being worn by such ridges. With my belt however, the gradual di vergence of the warp wires maintains the wire on the suction boxes true so that there are no ridges to engage the lacing.

Thus my invention provides a weave wherein the warp wires extend parallel to each other first in one direction and then in another direction to form in effect a herring bone shape. The angular divergence of the warp wires out of the normal direction however, is very slight so that the belt may carry pulp in a zone substantially equal to the full normal width thereof. To effect this result, the lateral displacement of the warp wires due to the divergence during the weaving process constitutes only the distance between a few warp wires, these being suflicient to overcome the grooving of the suction boxes. Accordingly, pulp may be carried in a zone having a width defined by contiguous straight lines which bound the re-entrant angles on opposite sides of the belt. The displacement of the warp wires is so slight however, that this zone is substantially equal to the full normal width of the belt.

While not confining myself to any particular dimensions, I may say, by wav of illustration, that I have produced satisfactory results in a belt having a mesh of 40 to the inch longitudinally and 60 to the inch transversely and wires of approximately 30 gauge, by a shift of the cloth beam of an inch for each 8 feet of length of fabric. The fabric so made is used in the identical manner of the ordinary fabric in fact the difference is hardly discernible with the naked eyebut the desired even wear on the suction boxes is obtained without the necessity of oscillating them (freuqently impracticable in the other machines) and the net result is the prolonged life of the belt.

I claim 1. A woven wire belt comprising a fabric having the warp wires extending at an angle slightly different from a right angle to the weft wires, such oblique angle being slight- 1y obtuse for a considerable distance and then slightly acute.

2. A woven wire belt'comprising a fabric having the warp wires slightly diverging from the longitudinal center line of the fabric, such diversion in the course ,of many feet of the fabric being equal to the distance between the warp wires.

Eltl

3. A woven wire belt comprising a fabric having the ends thereof laced together by wires passing diagonally over both warp and weft wires. said warp wires being slightto the distance between a few warp wires, and the weft wires being at right angles to such longitudinal center line.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

HAMILTON LINDSAY. 

